TYPOLOGY OF TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS (CONFESSIONS) AND ETHNOCONFESSIONAL SITUATION IN THE CAUCASUS

Abstract

The problem of a typology of traditional religions and their versions – confessions, reflecting extent of their distribution among people of the world is considered. The author specifies that creation of a similar typology demands entering two additions into the standard division of the developed traditional religions on world and national and suggests to distinguish two main types of world religions: universal and ethnolocal confessions. Any confession of the first type is widespread among many people of the world, the second – confesses only one ethnos or its part. Each of these types splits into two subtypes depending if the confession covers ethnos (ethnoses) in whole or in part. Universal confessions are subdivided on the multiethnic, covering the most part of many ethnoses, and polylocal, recorded at a number of the people, but having in each of them only insignificant number of adherents. Ethnolocal confessions can be either monoethnic type, or monolocal. Confessions of both of these subtypes exist in ethnically homogeneous environment, however monoethnic in this environment dominate, and monolocal confess only its small part. Further the author analyzes an ethnoconfessional situation in the Caucasus and comes to a conclusion that in this region from four options of kinds of world religions only two are presented in essence – monoethnic and multiethnic which allow close interface of the confessions belonging to them to the ethnic sphere. Confessions of other subtypes did not gain a little considerable distribution in the Caucasus. For this reason (and some others) a vast majority of the people of the Caucasus observes very strong communication between religion (confession), traditional for them, on the one hand and ethnic traditions, ethnic consciousness with another. The accounting of this circumstance is extremely important as for carrying out successful policy in the field of the national (ethnic) relations within the certain states of the region, and for achievement of socio-political stability in the Caucasus in general.